Lester: We did sustain quite a bit of damage, and we expect to be reimbursed for the majority of it. We also had allocated a certain amount of money for repairs assuming that we don’t get 100 percent. We are hoping for quite a bit. And, the first thing that you have to do if you’re not full funded is go to your politicians, and they’ve been very generous with Long Beach. We also have received quite a bit of donations. It depends on what we’re not financed for. If we’re not financed, for example, for classroom materials, we have donations that can cover that. If we are not financed for some of the structures, we might be able to modify our building contracts to take that into account. At this point, it’s premature to say what we’d do because you have to look at the other alternatives. But, if we are not financed 100 percent, we’re going to do our best to take care of it without raising taxes.

Questions have arisen regarding the effectiveness of our curriculum directors in coordinating the curriculum across the schools. What would you do to ensure curriculum coordination?

Adler: I would first change our structure from a director structure to a chairperson structure. And the advantage of that would be that the chair people would be in the classroom teaching on top of doing some administrative work. That gives them a huge advantage over a director because they understand and see what’s happening curriculum-wise in the classroom. It also is a cost-savings to the district; it also then streamlines more of what’s happening in the classroom to the directors.